One form of popular online game is generally referred to as, live remote dealer. In this form of gaming, a live dealer is located at a central location. The game may be a card game, such as black jack or some other form of gaming. In a live remote game, the players want to see the dealer performing the actions related to the game. Video of the dealer performing these actions is streamed or otherwise delivered to a display screen located near the remote player. The purpose of the live remote dealer is to replace the computer based random number generator (RNG) in the online form of gaming. The audience in live remote dealer gaming wants to actually see the cards being dealt so the business model has come around in the last few years where studios have been set up where the camera is directed towards the dealer to capture images of the dealer pulling cards from a shoe and displaying the cards on the table. A video camera may also be focused or aimed at the hand being dealt. In addition, some live remote dealer systems include video cameras positioned within a casino to capture images of dealer at a live casino table game. The output from the video camera is displayed on a display, such as the display of computer, located near the player so that the player can actually see the cards as the cards are dealt into their player position.
Live remote dealer gaming is aimed at an audience that does not like or will not gamble using on-line games or systems which utilize RNGs or computers to generate the game outcome. In addition, live remote dealer gaming may provide a more exciting gaming experience for the player over known computer simulated casino games, by providing a real time video image of the dealer and/or gaming table.
However, the live remote dealer gaming model is generally more expensive than online models which utilize RNG because it replicates the live casino environment. In an online system which do not use a live dealer, the system could have one or 10,000 people playing blackjack at once with little or very little additional cost. With a live dealer, an employee or dealer must stand at the table, if there is only one person playing, that dealer's time is amortized over one. The maximum is just amortizing it over a predetermined number of players (based on the game being played), e.g., seven, in general, for games in which the player plays against the dealer, such as blackjack, or some poker. In addition, the number of players that may play table games at a casino and/or gaming establishment is limited to the physical floor space of the gaming establishment that is dedicated to the table games. In addition, casinos/gaming establishments may offer different types of blackjack-type card games with different betting methods, different dealing methods, and/or different side-bets such as Progressive Blackjack, Lucky Lucky Blackjack, and Lucky Ladies Blackjack. Each type of blackjack game is provided with at least one live dealer and a physical table for each type of game. Thus, if a casino provides three blackjack games, e.g. Progressive Blackjack, Lucky Lucky Blackjack, and Lucky Ladies Blackjack, the casino must provide at least 3 dealers, each dealer operating a different physical table. If there is only one player for each type of game, then there exists a 1 dealer to 1 player ratio, which is uneconomical.
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems identified above.